I do things with words.

Samuel L. Jackson, Perfectionist

16 May 2012

Before shooting, [Samuel L.] Jackson reads his script a dozen times, sometimes memorizing all the other characters’ lines as well as his own. Jackson is almost pathologically meticulous about hitting his mark, picking up a prop, say, on the same word, take after take. “That’s called playing the movie game,” he said.

Jackson is one of my favorite actors. The amount of work that he puts into his parts ensures that watching him play them is anything but work. Because of him, even the movies that are flops still feel fun and have a life to them. He seems incredibly aware of his good fortune in being allowed to act – and at no point does he take that for granted.